Summer residence
A summer residence (or a summer palace or summer residence ) is understood to be a palace or a castle that was only temporarily inhabited - especially in summer - and that was often in relative proximity to the actual ancestral home of the builder. In a figurative sense, it also describes the location of a summer palace or some other temporarily used "summer residence" by rulers , such as a town, often a health resort , a region or an island. Such summer residences still exist today in monarchically ruled countries, but also in republics as the summer residence of the respective head of state - such as in Austria or the Czech Republic .
background
For historical reasons, many residences were located directly in the cities (for example the Hofburg in Vienna or the Munich Residenz ) and, as a grown ensemble of buildings, were only partially suitable for a splendid Baroque court. In order to achieve better heatability of the rooms, the apartments were often more modest. In addition, traditional residences were often located in narrowly built-up alleys and streets, which meant that many rooms had little daylight. In addition, after a long winter, the (old) chimneys had to be swept lavishly, a process that was better avoided. In contrast to this, summer castles were often more splendidly furnished than the actual residence. Many were also built on the outskirts of the cities and thus offered the space for a representative palace park that would not have found a place within the narrow city walls . Due to the fact that functioning chimneys were hardly necessary in summer, it was not uncommon for huge state rooms to be set up that could not have been heated or only insufficiently heated in winter and were therefore missing in the actual main castle. The living spaces were also often larger. In many summer residences you could also get directly from the living rooms into the garden. Moving in and out every year often required a lot of planning. The summer and winter residences rarely had their own stocks of furniture, and so all the mobile works of art and furniture were often taken with them during the annual move. The Imperial Furniture Collection in Vienna is an example of a central furniture store in a noble house.
In southern Europe, the purpose of the summer palace was the opposite: while it was oppressively hot in the cities, the court withdrew to the cooler country residences, such as the Spanish Palacio Real in La Granja .
In Austria and the Czech Republic - both republics for a long time - there are now summer seats for the respective president, these are Schloss Mürzsteg and Schloss Lany .
Examples of summer residences
In Germany
- Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam
- Altenstein Castle near Bad Liebenstein
- Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin
- Wilhelmshöhe Castle in Kassel
- Dachau Castle near Munich
- Schleissheim Palace in Oberschleißheim near Munich
- Nymphenburg Palace in Munich
- Fasanerie Castle near Fulda
- Friedrichshafen Castle on Lake Constance, Friedrichshafen
- Friedrichsthal Castle in Gotha
- Palais Neubrandenburg in Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- Seehof Castle in Memmelsdorf near Bamberg
In Austria
- Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, originally a Habsburg hunting lodge ; under Maria Theresa generous expansion into a summer residence
- Imperial villa in Bad Ischl , traditional summer retreat of Emperor Franz Josef
- Laxenburg Palace near Vienna, extensive palace gardens with several palaces; the Blue Court in particular served as an imperial summer residence
- Villa Wartholz in Reichenau an der Rax , summer retreat of the Archduke Karl Ludwigs family ; Birthplace of Otto von Habsburg
- Blühnbach Castle near Hallein, hunting and summer castle of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Halbturn Castle in Halbturn ( Burgenland ), summer residence of Archduke Friedrich ; located in Hungary until 1921
- Weilburg Castle in Baden near Vienna , built by Archduke Karl ; later owned by Archduke Friedrich
- Imperial house in Baden near Vienna, summer residence of Emperor Franz I , later temporarily residence of Emperor Karl I.
- Luberegg Castle on the Danube in Lower Austria , from 1803 to 1811 the summer residence of Emperor Franz I.
- Kranichberg Castle near Gloggnitz , historical summer residence of the Vienna Archbishops
- Mürzsteg Castle in Styria, former imperial hunting lodge; now the summer residence of the Austrian Federal Presidents
- Hellbrunn Palace , a hunting and pleasure palace completed in 1615 by Markus Sittikus ( Prince Archbishopric of Salzburg )
Other countries
- Ciergnon Castle in Ciergnon (Belgium)
- Drottningholm Palace in Sweden
- Villa Solliden in Sweden, currently the summer residence of the Swedish royal family on the island of Öland
- Gravenstein Castle in Denmark
- Mon Repos Castle on Corfu in Greece; Birthplace of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- Archilleion on Corfu in Greece, summer residence of Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary ; later owned by Wilhelm II.
- Pavlovsk in Saint Petersburg
- Palácio Nacional da Pena in Sintra (Portugal)
- Palacio Real of Aranjuez in Spain
- Castel Gandolfo in Italy, summer residence of the Pope
- Lany Castle near Prague in the Czech Republic, summer residence of the Czech presidents
- Konopischt Castle in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, once the summer residence of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Sandringham Castle in Norfolk, residence of the English kings
- Windsor Castle in Windsor, the weekend and summer residence of the English royal family
- Balmoral Castle in Scotland, summer residence of Queen Elizabeth II of England .
Examples of location names
- The Croatian town of Vrsar was the summer residence of the Poreč bishops .
- The Thuringian spa Bad Liebenstein became known nationwide as the summer residence of the Meiningen ducal family .
- In the 19th century, King George V of Hanover made the North Sea island of Norderney his summer residence .
- The Calvörde Castle was the summer residence of the Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel .
Picture gallery
Imperial villa in Bad Ischl
Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna
Mürzsteg Castle , summer residence of the Austrian Federal Presidents
Summer residence of the Popes in Castel Gandolfo